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Joe Staley is helped off the field during the fourth quarter. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Staley was on his back, concerned teammates and both head coaches were huddled over him and, then, a cart was summoned on the field.

Who knew this sober scene would be a source of such hilarity to the 49ers after the game?

As it turns out, Staley’s apparently big injury in Thursday night’s 35-11 win over St. Louis was only a big scare. After the game, Staley walked briskly out of an X-ray room and Jim Harbaugh said the team was going to “dodge a bullet.”

Staley, however, couldn’t dodge digs from his amused teammates in the locker room.

Staley stayed on the ground after running back LaMichael James and a Rams defender appeared to fall into the back of his legs on a run with less than two minutes left. In pain and panicked, Staley reacted in a manner not befitting an NFL lineman, he said, via Twitter, late Thursday night: “I’m good. And I scream like no dude should ever scream lol my bad.”

Staley’s buddies in the trenches reportedly thought his screams, which were picked up by television cameras, were a real scream. Right guard Alex Boone, in particular, enjoyed recreated the high-decibel sounds, according to this tweet from Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News: “Joe Staley was walking w/just a minor limp in the locker room & Alex Boone was howling with laughter mimicking Staley’s on-field bellows.”

Outstretched the turf, Staley might have had flashbacks to a serious leg injury he suffered against the same team three years ago. On Nov. 10, 2010, he fractured his left fibula in a home win against the Rams.

His reaction to that injury earned him a spot in tough-guy lore, not needling from his teammates. After in-game X-rays on his leg were negative, Staley returned to the game, officially broke his leg and stayed in the game until he could no longer stand.

“The X-rays were negative, so I went back out there,” Staley said. “Then I got kicked again, and I knew it was broken, but I stayed in for a couple plays.”